Second Hand Smoking Facts Dangers of Second Hand Smoke
What are second hand smoking facts? One is it happens when a non-smoker is exposed to harmful sidestream smoke effects. Another term for it is passive smoking. One of the known dangers of secondhand smoke are the many common types of cancer and several other health problems.
Why is Second Hand Smoke Harmful?
The dangers in the second hand smoke that you should know of are...
it has 3x more carbon monoxide,
it has 5x more cadmium,
it has 3-10x more polycydic aromatic hydrocarbons,
it has 10-40x more nitrosamines,
it has 15x more benzene and
it has 40-70x more ammonia.
Horrific, isn't it? This extremely poisonous smoke will cause a lot of health problems for you. Cancer is the most serious and the deadliest and worse, your risk isn't limited to lung cancer alone. The nicotine habit is implicated in many of the leading types of cancer.
Exposure to secondhand smoke causes health problems
Heart Diseases
Cardiovascular ill-effects are just one of the dangers of smoking. One example is stroke.
Being exposed to side stream smoke for as short as 30 minutes will result to reduced blood flow in your heart and oxygen supply in your brain that may result to stroke.
Respiratory Problems
Common issues are chest discomforts, breathing difficulty and reduced lung functions. They also include coughing, lung infections and asthma attacks.
These problems often lead to increased risk for respiratory complications like sinusitis, pneumonia and bronchitis.
Having a Low-Birth Weight Baby
If you are pregnant and are exposed to ETS, you have a greater risk of giving birth to a low-birth weight baby.
Side stream smoke is particularly deadly to small children because their bodies are still young and developing. The many dangerous effects on children are:
Lung infections which are very common among children younger than 18 months who live with a smoker.
Increased risk for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome or SIDS. This syndrome is also known as cot death.
Increased severity of respiratory illnesses such as asthma.
Increased risk for middle ear infections.
Also, exposure to passive smoking is also one of the leading causes of cancer in children when they become adults later on in life. This is because the DNA of their genes have already been damaged. They will carry the genetic mutations for the rest of their life. This makes them more vulnerable to develop cancer.
Harmful effects of tobacco smoking on your health are plenty. But they pale in comparison to ETS which is four times more poisonous and deadly.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the US National Toxicology Program, and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified it as a known carcinogen.
Avoidance of ETS as much as possible is a good step on prevention. You may be a non-smoker but if you're constantly exposed to secondhand smoke, you also take in nicotine and the rest of the poisonous chemicals.
Good for you if you don't smoke because you will enjoy many health benefits of not smoking. And if you do, please don't do it where your family is. Or better yet, quit this unhealthy habit because one of the known controllable causes of cancer is tobacco use.
Didn't find what you were looking for? Try searching for it below.
